Immigration officers to help identify arriving OFWs to be tested for COVID-19

Airport immigration officers will assist the government in identifying arriving overseas Filipino workers who are required to undergo rapid testing for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and a mandatory 14-day quarantine upon their return.

Immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport will conduct a "redundancy check" for arriving Filipinos to see whether OFWs have been inspected by the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) after disembarking from the aircraft that flew them in.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said in a statement Monday that he ordered officers to do this amid reports that some passengers do not declare that they are OFWs to avoid being quarantined.

“Passengers who do not have the quarantine registration form showing that he or she has been tested for COVID-19 symptoms by BOQ personnel after disembarking from the aircraft shall be referred back to the BOQ,” said Grifton Medina, chief of the Bureau of Immigrations (BI) port operations division.

After being processed by immigration officers, newly-arrived OFWs will be escorted to buses that would take them to their designated quarantine facility.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease has required all arriving OFWs to undergo rapid antibody testing for COVID-19 and a 14-day quarantine.

Thousands of OFWs have been repatriated amid the COVID-19 crisis. The BI said some 50 special flights carrying OFWs, mostly seafarers, have arrived in the Philippines since the enhanced community quarantine took effect.

Most of the repatriates came from Italy, Spain, and the United States, the bureau said.—AOL, GMA News